Mucking Out and Mucking About

4°F this morning, bright and sunny. Up to 21°F now.

Cold, cold! And feeling very grateful for our free gas and a warm house. Yesterday got up to about 19, so we went out for a walk up our driveway to the mailbox...only to discover that either the mail didn't run, or she didn't stop at our box. No matter though, we mainly enjoyed the walk.

The dogs enjoyed it too, although bad Buddy took off again and went two miles down the road to his favorite neighbor's. We had taken off his electronic fence collar so he could come with us, but forgot to bring the control for the shock collar--we don't shock him, just hit the warning buzzer and he comes right to us. But without it, he felt free as a bird. Oh, to see how happy he was to just run and run! I swear he is part greyhound, so sleek and fast when he runs! Larry took the truck down to get him, and silly Buddy was happy as can be to see him. Such a pain this dog is, and such a joy. We love him to bits, even though he can drive us nuts.

Today it is warming nicely, up to 21, and Larry has gone to town. Unlike me, he gets cabin fever pretty quickly. I have stayed home for a month happily but Larry likes to get out and see people. So he is picking up feed, and getting our checks from the antique malls to put in the bank.

I have been piddling about with small stuff, like sorting drawers to do the "get rid of 10 things" tbing. It sure helps keep down clutter. I did my top dresser drawer, and as usual I was so amused at what is in there: Small flat Prince Albert tobacco  a s and small bottles of turpentine from storytelling days, pegs from the pegged together walls of one of the log cabins we disassembled,  the hooks, pieces of shell, and roughed- out buttons from another storytelling thing about the old mussel shell industry that once thrived on the Ohio River, old hankies,  little cloth used in the baptism of my oldest son 54 years ago, broken jewelry,  a small jar of beads and oddments, etc, etc. All of these things stayed in the drawer, but some things, like batteries, a pack of handwarmers,  a bag of sewing machine parts and so on got put where they belonged.

Then I worked on a couple small projects. First was getting these little evening bags ready for the booth by putting the chain back on one, trimming loose strings, etc. 

Two are missing beads which I can't fix, but it tied off and trimmed the loose threads to tighten them up as best I could. One needed some trim reglued inside. Now they are ready for the booth.

Next were these two sewing baskets. 

My sewing basket, made by my father for my mother, using velvet from my firdtwedding, in 1968. 

Bits from the oddments jar

One needed trim reglued, and I added some vintage sewing supplies to it. The other needed something to hold the catch closed. After much trial and error,  I hit on a pretty little beaded thingies. I strung some beads on wire and affixed inside with a jeweled bit from the oddments jar. It took more time than I care to admit, but it was fun to muck about with this stuff. Now these baskets are also ready to sell.

Now, I need to getbout for a walk, then list on ebay, then...who knows?

Copyright Susanna Holstein. All rights reserved. No Republication or Redistribution Allowed without attribution to Susanna Holstein.